Twenty Seventh Day Eleventh Month of the forty third year after the foundation of the Union.

Awewe Soldadu of the Babaturan Angkat

She woke up to the sound of fighting outside of the building she was sleeping, she quickly got dressed and donned her magical bracelets. Where she was from in the northern continent because of the heat they wore very limited clothing and relied on magical bracelets enchanted and blessed by their shamans for protection. Now that she travelled in the southern continent, she wore a tight-fitting leather jerkin mainly for warmth. Normally she would also wear her bear skin cloak, made from the skin of a giant cave bear she had killed herself; she left the cloak on the bed she had been sleeping in and grabbed her Tumbak which was a fighting spear. She opened the door to her small closeted room and was met in the hall by the other members of the Babaturan Angkat.

Babaturan Angkat was the name she had given the squad when she had first joint them. The name meant travelling companions in her home tongue. Back then the squad had just been named after their founder and leader Manawydan fab Llyr. The elf had been leading the monster elimination squad for centuries before she had been born. She had hired as a guide for squad as they hunted a hydra the multi headed reptilian beast had been preying on outlying villages near her home. The squad had been engaged to eliminate the beast. The beast must have known that it was hunted had escaped into the swamplands. After they had finally tracked the beast to its lair and slain the beast she pleased when Manawydan asked her to join the squad.

She had now been in the squad the second longest after Manawydan. They had met Mikula Seyaninoch in the frozen tundra near Zkorolevtvo, they had been hunting a Balanchko which was a three headed giant. Mikula had attempted to slay the beast by himself and the squad had saved his life. Since then the seven-foot-tall knight had dedicated himself to the squad. Charles Johnson or Charlie was the newest member to the squad he joined the squad when Godfrey had retired.

They were here at Mianach Sléibhe because they had caught a cave troll and had delivered it to this facility. She had been told that skilled alchemist took the stomach acid from the cave troll and used it to make the gun powder. They had been waiting here for their next assignment.

The four companions quickly prepared themselves for whatever was happening outside. Mikula would lead the way he was wearing a full suite of plate armour, he must have been wearing it in his sleep for him to be equipped so quickly. Awewe would follow him then would come Manawydan ready to use his magic and finally Charlie would bring up the rear his hunting musket primed and ready.

As they went through the door to outside, they immediately came under fire, Awewe ducked for cover as she tried to assess what the situation. There were several dead soldiers already laying on the ground. Union soldiers had formed up a battle line and were in the process of fighting off what looked like elven and orc raiders. It was difficult to make out their numbers in pitch black night.

She could see Mikula was already engaged with the orcs his large axe had cut down some of his foe. His homeland of Zkorolevstvo shared a border with the southern waste which home to the orc empire and his people shared an intense hatred for the vile beasts.

Awewe moved to back him up, her spear darting forward to strike down a large orc. As she began her combat dance, she dodged and parried and then suddenly struck with deadly force. She watched as Manawydan sent a fireball crashing into the enemy. Charlie was firing off a constant barrage of musket shots.

A sword blade parried her spear and Awewe found herself engaged in combat with a female elf. The duel sword wielding elf attacked Awewe with burst of strikes. It took all of Awewe skill to avoid been skewered by the elf. She spun and ducked and found the flow of the battle had taken her away from the elven swordswomen. She found herself engaged with two orcs. They swung at her with their sabres. She dodged one sabre and buried her spear into the side of the orc.

She kicked out her leg and caught the second orc in the chest knocking the beast backwards and allowed her to free her spear from the dead orc. She turned to finish the second orc off. Only to see that it had collapsed to the ground. Charlie had put a musket ball through the beast’s head.

She looked over at Manawydan he was in an intense magical duel. She had been with the wizard for a long time but never had she seen him strain like this current battle. Even when they had battled a beholder in the tomb of some lost king a few years ago he had not struggled like he appeared to be doing now. She wanted to give him aide but too many of the enemy stood between them.

Just when It looked like they would be overpowered a company of soldiers appeared out of the night reinforcing the battle line. They must have been the guards from the mine. With these reinforcements they continued to push the opposition backwards.

As she danced back into the melee combat, she again found herself engaged in battle with another female elf. This elf only carried one sword but was just as deadly as the one she had fought earlier. The sword caught her spear and then lunged forward. She could feel the magic of her bracelets deflecting the blow.

She lunged forward with her spear grazing the elven warrior on the shoulder, the elf retreated a few steps and then they began dance in earnest. Although she knew she shouldn’t be enjoying this battle finally here was someone that was testing her skills.

The battle seemed to go for hours but in actual fact it had only been a couple seconds, she was breathing deeply, her spear was getting heaver in her grip. Though she felt like she was getting a feel for her opposition and any moment now she would be able to take advantage of her weapons longer reach to end this combat.

Then she slipped on the blood on stone courtyard, for a faction of a second her guard was down whilst she corrected her stance. That was all her opponent needed and she felt the blade of the sword plunge into her side.

She collapsed on to the ground. Her hands went to the gaping wound on her side trying to stop the flow of blood. The elf that had wounded her had disappeared into the night. She looked to see if there was anyone that could come to her assistance.

Charlie also lay on the ground his musket had finally been silenced. Mikula was surrounded by orcs even his mighty armour had not stood up to the constant attack, she could see that he was bleeding from a dozen wounds. Manawydan was still engaged in his magical duel, she could see that he was bleeding from his noise from the stress of the engagement. None of her comrades could help her.

She tried to keep her eyes open, her head was pounding, no it wasn’t her head that was the sound of marching. Before she shut her eyes, she saw a regiment of Dwarven longbeards march into view. These elite dwarven warriors formed up in rows and began firing their muskets. Both elves and orcs fell before them.